Interview questions and answers on LoRaWAN and LoRa

This page describes LoRaWAN questionnaire written by specialists in LoRa domain. This top LoRaWAN interview questions and answers will help interviewee pass the job interview for LoRa/LoRaWAN job position with ease.

Question -1: What is LoRaWAN ?
Answer -1: It is one of the LPWAN technology. It offers long range (about 10 to 30 miles), low power (provides 15-20 years of battery life time), high capacity ( millions of messages per gateway) and so on. LoRaWAN uses AES-128 algorithm to provide privacy and protection against intrusion.

Question -2: What is LoRa ?
Answer -2: The term LoRa is used for LoRaWAN technology and for modulation technique i.e. CSS modulation (Chirp Spread Spectrum modulaion) used in LoRaWAN network. It is used to provide different data rates using different spreading factors. The other modulation scheme used in LoRaWAN is FSK (Frequency Shift Keying). Refer LoRa vs CSS >>.

Question -3: What is LoRaWAN gateway ?
Answer -3: It forwards received radio packets to network server through backbone. It receives radio packets from air and forward them to network server without any processing. Similarly it does not alter payloads coming from network server to be uploaded over the air. It does necessary RF conversion as per band used.

Question -4: What are the frequency bands used in LoRaWAN ?
Answer -4: It uses 433 MHz, 863 to 870 MHz, 902 to 928 MHz and 779 to 787 MHz bands in different regions of the world.

Question -5: What is the LoRaWAN frequency used in INDIA ?
Answer -5: Frequency channels viz. 865.0625 MHz, 865.4025 MHz and 865.985 MHz are used in INDIA.

Question -6: What is the LoRaWAN frequency used in USA ?
Answer -6: Frequency channels from 902 to 928 MHz are used in USA.

Question -7: What is the LoRaWAN frequency used in CHINA ?
Answer -7: Band CN779-787 (range from 779 to 787 MHz) is used in CHINA for LoRaWAN system. Three Channel frequencies used are 779.5 MHz, 779.7 MHz and 779.9 MHz.

Question -8: What is the LoRaWAN frequency used in Europe ?
Answer -8: It uses two radio frequency bands viz. 863 to 870 MHz and 433 MHz. In EU868 MHz band, 868.1 MHz, 868.3 MHz and 868.5 MHz channels are allocated. In EU433 band, 433.175 MHz, 433.375 MHz and 433.575 MHz channels are allocated.

Question -9: What is the LoRaWAN frequency used in Russia ?
Answer -9: Band RU864-870 is used in Russia which allocates channel frequencies viz. 868.9 MHz and 869.1 MHz for this region.

Question -10: What is the difference between LoRa and LoRaWAN ?
Answer -10: LoRa term is used for modulation technique (used to derive different data rates) where as LoRaWAN term is used for the network covering wide coverage (i.e. long distance) with low power in IoT/M2M applications. LoRa modulation is also referred as CSS modulation.

Question -11: What is the difference between LoRaWAN and Zigbee ?
Answer -11: LoRaWAN covers long range (2 to 5 Km in urban and 15 Km in urban) where as Zigbee covers up to 100 meters
Refer LoRaWAN vs Zigbee >>.

Question -12: Can you explain LoRaWAN network architecture, its elements and network interfaces ?
Answer -12: The LoRaWAN network consists of End devices, Gateway, Network server, Join server and Application Server. Following diagram mentions different network interfaces between these network elements.
Refer LoRaWAN architecture >>.

Question -13: What is the different classes supported in LoRaWAN device ?
Answer -13: The LoRaWAN classes are class-A, class-B and class-C.
Refer LoRaWAN Classes >>.

Question -14: Which are the roaming types supported by LoRaWAN ?
Answer -14: There are two roaming types supported by LoRaWAN viz. passive roaming and handover roaming.
Refer LoRaWAN roaming types >>.

Question -15: Which are LoRaWAN Certification test providers in the world ?
Answer -15: The LoRaWAN certification test providers are 7layers, Allion Labs, DEKRA Ltd, IMST GmbH, TTA, TUV, Bureau Veritas, AT4 Wireless, Etteplan etc.

Question -16: Which are LoRaWAN Certification test providers in INDIA ?
Answer -16: TUV and DEKRA (India) Pvt. Ltd. provide network service in INDIA.

Question -17: Narrate advantages (i.e. benefits) and disadvantages (i.e. drawbacks) of LoRaWAN technology ?
Answer -17: Advantages: Long range, Low power, high capacity to support devices, Adaptive data rate, global frequency coverage, low cost etc.
Disadvantages: low data rate, low latency etc.
Refer LoRaWAN Pros and Cons >>.

This set of LoRaWAN interview questions and answers are useful for freshers and experienced level of job positions. Also refer articles on LoRaWAN application notes such as smart parking, smart healthcare, smart water metering and so on.

LoRaWAN related links

The LoRaWAN Wireless tutorial covers following sub topics:
LoRaWAN Smart Parking   LoRaWAN sensor design   LoRaWAN smart healthcare system   LoRaWAN smart water metering   LoRaWAN architecture   LoRaWAN Interface Types   LoRaWAN roaming types   LoRa tutorial   LoRa Frequency Bands   LoRa protocol stack   LoRa MAC layer   LoRaWAN classes   LoRa features   LoRa Transceiver module  

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